Transuranic Waste

Energy Secretary Rick Perry should not assume New Mexico will automatically accept a dramatic expansion in the mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) told fellow members the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. While transuranic waste from DOE sites is shipped to the underground repository for permanent disposal, Udall cautioned […]

While it has been looking since the fourth quarter of 2017, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has not yet hired a director of mining. Nuclear Waste Partnership still hopes to find the right candidate in the near future, spokesman Donavan Mager said by telephone last week. Making the […]

Written testimony from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) official Friday, before the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee, adds more details to the state’s argument for classifying much of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s remaining waste as defense-related transuranic waste and shipping it to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot […]

A new $288 million ventilation system, intended to allow the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to conduct simultaneous underground salt mining and disposal of transuranic waste, has been approved by Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “This will be a significant improvement for WIPP in support of […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday rejected an amendment to its fiscal 2019 energy and water bill that would have siphoned away certain increased funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and Energy Department environmental cleanup programs. During the committee markup of the bill, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) proposed the amendment to help restore […]

The House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $16 million funding haircut for cleanup of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Tennessee. If the spending level survives the congressional appropriations process, financing from the Energy Department’s Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund for the project would drop from about $195 million in […]

The Energy Department and the state of New York disagree on whether waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project should be considered defense-related, according to testimony Friday before the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) General Counsel Noah Shaw told the panel both high-level […]

A leaked report from a nominally independent office within the National Nuclear Security Administration offers a trove of new details about the plan the agency must sell to Congress in order to start producing nuclear-warhead cores in South Carolina. On May 10, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he would officially cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel […]

A new $288 million ventilation system, meant to allow the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to conduct simultaneous underground salt mining and disposal of transuranic waste, has been approved by Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne White. “This will be a significant improvement for WIPP in support of its […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) plans to rule by June 1 on a proposal from the U.S. Energy Department to modify the method used to calculate the volume of transuranic waste being disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department and site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership filed the application Jan. […]

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) plans to rule by June 1 on a proposal from the U.S. Energy Department to modify the method used to calculate the volume of transuranic waste being disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department and site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership filed the application Jan. […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has received 93 shipments of transuranic waste so far in 2018. The shipment total works out to an average of 5.8 shipments per week to the underground disposal site in the 16 weeks between Jan. 1 and April 20 — the latest date […]

The Energy Department and cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho are still in the early stages of the investigation of an April 11 breach of four drums of radioactive waste at the Idaho Site, a state official said this week. “They have made several re-entries and are in the process of collecting samples but it will likely […]

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) became the new contractor in charge of legacy nuclear cleanup at the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico effective Monday morning. The contractor just finished a 90-day transition that has included hiring staff, inspecting cleanup areas and setting up new policy and business procedures, the […]

The Energy Department needs to address some shortcomings in fire protection at the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said recently. There is no comprehensive fire-detection system covering the entirety of the facility, which is staffed only four days per week […]

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will hold a public meeting today in Washington, D.C., as part of its study of the viability of the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to dispose of downblended plutonium from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The preliminary agenda for the 2:30 p.m. […]

Fluor is scheduled the release its first-quarter 2018 financial earnings Thursday immediately after the stock market closes, with a conference call with financial analysts scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dallas-based engineering and construction company, a major player in nuclear cleanup for the Department of Energy, slightly raised its full-year company-wide revenue to $19.5 billion […]

The Energy Department could store transuranic waste up to 10 years at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) cleanup site in Schenectady County, N.Y., under a hazardous waste permit it has requested from the state. In early April, DOE submitted the application to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which expects to issue the draft […]

Four 55-gallon drums of radioactive waste ejected their lids due to excessive pressure on April 11 at the Accelerated Retrieval Project No. 5 (ARP 5) facility, Idaho Site cleanup contractor Flour Idaho confirmed Monday. The Energy Department and the contractor had both indicated last week at least one drum, and possibly more, had been breached. […]

The Energy Department could store transuranic waste up to 10 years at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) cleanup site in Schenectady County, N.Y., under a hazardous waste permit it has requested from the state. In early April, DOE submitted the application to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which expects to issue the draft […]

Following a five-month pause, plutonium downblending resumed in mid-March at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The mission involves dilution of 6 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable, non-pit plutonium, and not the 34 metric tons of material intended to be processed by Savannah River’s MOX program. Operations began in September 2016, […]

The Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, Nuclear Waste Partnership, is likely to award a contract for construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System in May. That should be followed shortly afterward by a groundbreaking, with project completion expected in 2021, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager […]

New York state should in early 2019 issue a draft permit for interim storage of transuranic waste at the U.S. Energy Department’s Separations Process Research Unit, a state official said. The state Department of Environmental Conservation will issue the initial document for a 45-day public comment period, spokesman Rick Georgeson said by email. The department […]

The Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory suspended transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico immediately after an April 11 incident in which at least one 55-gallon drum of radioactive waste overheated and ejected its lid. The suspension was precautionary, and shipments resumed on Tuesday, Idaho Site cleanup contractor Fluor […]

The Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory suspended transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico immediately after an April 11 incident in which at least one 55-gallon drum of radioactive waste overheated and ejected its lid. The suspension was precautionary, and shipments resumed on Tuesday, Idaho Site cleanup contractor Fluor […]

New York should in early 2019 issue a draft permit for interim storage of transuranic waste at the Energy Department’s Separations Process Research Unit, a state official said last week. The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation will issue the initial document for a 45-day public comment period, spokesman Rick Georgeson said by email. […]

The management and operations contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is reviewing three bid proposals from companies hoping to build a new permanent underground ventilation system for the deep-underground disposal site. Bid proposals were received March 21 and are now under review, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) spokesman Donavan […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency told an official South Carolina nuclear-advisory body there is nothing the federal agency can do, for now, to prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its plan to cancel a multibillion-dollar nonproliferation project at the Savannah River Site in the state. That is according to a letter dated April 2 […]